Everyday Saints
We often think that people who are role models in the faith tend to be almost super-human. As we read or hear the stories of their lives, we can think that they aren’t made out of the same stuff as us. They seem ethereal and full of a single-minded passion that makes us jealous. A friend and I were discussing the life of someone famous in church history. My friend said (paraphrasing here): “We always read about the cool things they did and how it seemed their lives were perfectly lived, but I want to read about the hard things they went through and the dark nights of grief all people experience.” We both noted that sometimes Christian books and biographies downplay or ignore the human struggles these people traversed through, as if they had it easy. Or maybe it’s a symptom of something greater? That we simply want the heroes to do all of the work for us. They can do the miraculous, but me, I’m ok with having a half-baked faith.
But regardless I think the more we investigate; we will see that they are just as human and fallible as we are. We can forget that people are people. We can also forget that God knows this and has grace for the weakness and frailty of our humanity that so very often falls short of perfect. If God had grace for our heroes, He has the same for us. If God’s grace worked in their lives, imprinting the love and beauty of Jesus, it is also true for us. Our Father has no favorites and His Kingdom can flourish in whatever heart accepts its seeds. There isn’t a “super class” of Christian, like some kind of spiritual elite. It is everyday saints in everyway imaginable. Doctors, lawyers, janitors, plumbers, moms, dads….it doesn’t matter the occupation or lack thereof. These are the kind of people that become saints because it is God not us that that ultimately forms them. As we say “yes” even in our weakness and brokenness, we allow the process of formation to take place. God partners with us to redeem us. This is why I believe Jesus uses parables that involve seed, soil, and nature [1]. He paints a picture of the Kingdom growing organically. Seeds grow because they were made to. When we make a garden, we prepare the soil and cultivate it, but the seeds grow by the very nature of what they are.
The Holy Spirit helps us tend to the garden of our hearts. He gently tells us when a weed is growing that will choke the life out of what is organic. This is why cultivating sinful habits are dangerous, they kill spiritual life and vitality. In the end it only hurts what is trying to come up from the earth. But if we tend to and nurture what The Spirit is doing, life will shoot up, even if it takes a long time. A life-giving garden comes by partnering with God who is the master gardener. We are all in the process of learning how to do this.
Often in the past (and still to the present day) different groups of Christians would take time in prayer to do an inventory of their hearts. They would ask in a sense, “what is growing in my garden today?”, “Am I needing to forgive someone?” “Am I thinking or doing things that are hindering the growth of God’s Kingdom?” Some of these Christians called this an “examination” of the heart [2]. They would wait quietly for God’s presence in prayer and let The Spirit bring to their minds what weeds need pulled. They would do this conscious of God’s grace and make a point not to obsess over the weeds but merely recall them and let them go to Him. Many Christians have realized over the centuries that our focus in examining ourselves has to be on the presence of The Holy Spirit and not on the weeds themselves. The Spirit merely points out the weeds to us. The whole point is the cultivation of the garden itself, the place of intimacy with God. God is the true focus of the examination of the heart, and He is quite capable to help us. He is not offended or outraged that weeds are growing. He knows our frame, our weak humanity (Psalm 103:14). This isn’t a barrier to God. He will faithfully help us tend to the garden because He wants US. He desires to know us and to be known by us. This knowledge calms and quiets our soul when we feel overwhelmed by our shortcomings.
I am convinced that in the end the greatest saints were the greatest lovers. They were focused first on loving God and then other people. This came with just being in the presence of Jesus. All of them to a tee, were changed by the presence and love of God. They did not cultivate their gardens to be loved, they already knew His love for them. Instead they daily cultivated their love back to Him. They made spending time with God a priority, but not once did they cease to be as human as the rest of us. This should give us hope. If they can do it so can we. Ultimately it is God who makes us and fashions us. His unrelenting, generous passion for people meets us in the everyday routine of our lives. This is what makes everyday saints, and that is you and me.
[1] See Matthew 7:15-20; 13:1-2; 13:24-32; 20:1-16; 21:28-46
Mark 4:1-18, 26-29, 30-34; 11:12-14; 12:1-12;
Luke 5:37-39; 6:43-45; 8:4-15; 12:13-21, 54-56; 13:6-9, 18-19; 15:11-31; 17:6-10; 20:9-19
John 4:31-38; 7:37-39; 15:1-17
[2] Ignatius of Loyola coined the term “Examen” which describes this particular spiritual exercise.
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